by Vanessa Patea
48HOURS is officially NZ’s largest film competition. It’s a cinematic bootcamp, and is a serious challenge for both first-time filmmakers through to experienced directors.

Simply put, filmmaking teams have just one weekend to make a short film. Filmmakers don’t know what genre (thriller/romance etc) they will be shooting until the start of the competition. All creativity -- writing, shooting, editing and adding a musical soundtrack -- must occur within the 48 hour window beginning Friday evening at 7pm and ending Sunday at 7pm. To add to the mayhem, they must also include some random elements.

A basic rundown of the rules is as follows: You make a 1 minute to 7 minute short film in under 48HOURS. You make the film in the style of a Genre provided to you and you include random elements provided to you at the competition launch. In previous years they have included lines of dialogue, props and characters. In 2009 we had:

Character: Alex Puddle, an exaggerator
Prop: A rock
Line of Dialogue: “it doesn’t fit…

Our team the Electric Pink Company was given the genre of ‘Dance’ which was perfect for an all girls team. It almost seemed destined, as soon into the deliberations we decided that ‘the Electric Pink Company’ was the perfect name for a dance troupe. We needed dancers, so it was decided by costume: all the crew would dress in hot pink, stripes, leg warmers, leopard skin and electro-trash wigs.

The night before filming was a howling southerly gale and at 7am the sun came up and wind died down as if on cue.

Our first location was the Tug Boat Restaurant in Oriental Parade, a charming setting perfect for an electro-clash dance movie.

Then we moved to the South Coast Rocks for some synchronised dance routines and some pyrotechnics to boot. Thanks to Sophie Dingemans for the choreography and Steve Collings for providing the gunpowder!

Our next location was Boogie Wonderland for some flashy lighting, multi mirror balls, smoke machines and a real disco dance floor; that was where the real dance moves were busted out!

We left Boogie Wonderland and the sun was down, and the rain started to spit. Our last location was in the Mount Victoria Tunnel, which was our opening scene… A perfect day.

Sunday was the editing day -- luckily we had 2 amazing editors, Ruth Korver and Kate Logan, who tag -teamed the editing depending on whom was the most tired. I posted loads of photos on the Electric Pink Company Blog from my laptop and did all the wrap up stuff. We had the most fun you can pack into a weekend and got our film in on time with no stress.

Thanks to all our lovely sponsors:
The Learning Connexion for providing the tools
The Parade Café for the Kai
Ant and the 48 hours team
Steve Collings
and, of course, the team that is the Electric Pink Company!

Check out our film here:

Kaleidoscope Kids Fest 2009
Friday 10th July 2009

Come and try a day of Art based activities with us – for free*!

Have fun participating in a variety of activities such as painting your own canvas – or draw a ‘shadow portrait’ masterpiece!

Investigate and play at different ways of making art and having fun with everyday materials.

Start time: 10am
Finish time: 3pm

Caregiver is required to be present during the event.
Art activities are messy so bring an old shirt or apron to protect clothing!

If you have any further questions about the event please contact Carrie Burke on 0800 ART POWER (278 769) or email c.burke@tlc.ac.nz

*$2 cost for canvas (canvas painting is optional – other free materials are also available).

TLC tutor and artist in residence Robert Franken is about to take up another residence on the other side of the world. He is off this very minute to Xiamen, Wellington’s sister City in China, for a three week artist residency. Six artists have been selected to participate and are all expected to create and show work, and do a short talk while there.

We stopped by Robert’s studio to have a quick chat with him before he left. He showed us around his space which is filled with paintings by his family and fabulous objects he has collected in his travels. Robert is a sixth generation artist so he is surrounded by works by his forebears which provide inspiration to his practice.

Robert is primarily a painter but also works on glass engravings which mirror the marks he uses on his canvas. You can view his work on his website at www.robertfranken.co.nz.

He describes his work as dealing with the space between -- “When one looks on a sunny day on the surface of the water, one can see suggested characters . I took the numbers 1 till 10 and threw them on that surface . I don’t want my works to be read , but yet the characters suggest a language. The effect is that it can travel between the floor boards of cultures . it give also the works a sense of motion and timelessness.”

Robert explained that he had three possible plans for his process in China: Plan 1 is to take paints and a canvas, plan 2 is to take engraving equipment and find glass or a mirror over there, and plan 3 is to take nothing and scrounge around in markets for materials when he arrives.

You can follow Robert’s progress as he works in Xiamen -- he is keeping a blog at -- www.robertsjourneys.blogspot.com

Stage two student Fiona Sole has just finished work for her first solo show, opening at Deluxe café, this Monday, May 25th, at 6pm.

While Fiona has focussed on both painting and sculpture during her studies at The Learning Connexion, this show is all about her beautiful paintings. She has created a series of nine large scale portraits of characters from movies of the Eighties. Fiona worked in the film industry before she became a student and has always loved film, so working with these images made sense. She usually doesn’t work from posters, instead she prefers to play the films through and select individual frames to paint from.

She says she selected the films from favourites she has continued to love over the years, and there are many there which will be familiar. We all remember films like Ghostbusters, Bladerunner, and Star Wars, eagerly watched on the big screen if you were old enough, or in super hifi VHS if you weren’t. Actors like Kevin Costner, Sigourney Weaver, and Harrison Ford are some she has painted, in character, as the heroes that many of us would have dreamt of growing up to be.

That is what is so captivating about Fiona’s images, they are filled with nostalgia for the films themselves, but also for the time when you were watching them. Looking at her paintings I am reminded of watching Dances With Wolves with my sister, or how much I wanted an Ewok or when I finally saw the director’s cut of Bladerunner.

Fiona’s show is up for two weeks at Deluxe Cafe, Kent Terrace Wellington, or if you can’t make it, you can see her work online at
www.fionasole.wordpress.com.

You can watch a short interview with her here:

by Susan Knaap

Paul Little is a man in love with life – it oozes from every pore and echoes throughout the growing body of photographic work that has been a major creative focus for three years. How did he stumble upon photography? “I met this rooster on the side of the road and we shared lunch and he told me to do photography… and so I did,” he says, humour duly noted.

The whimsical and the sublime seem to go hand in hand when it comes to Paul’s work – from the fanciful creatures he manufactures courtesy of Photoshop to the pure, unadulterated impressions of nature. With the latter, the sense is that it is ‘nature’ with both a small ‘n’ and a capital ‘N’ – nature as environment and Nature as the eternal creative force that underpins everything. In other words, nature is no longer something we look at, but experience ourselves as.

“It seems to me we humans have become very disconnected and removed from nature – we are no longer part of it,” says Paul. “We live in conceptual realms, ‘thought prisons’ where everything is analysed, judged, assessed and boxed. We no longer see the actual thing; only a mental abstraction. I want to bring the viewer directly into the experience of the image minus the endless judgments; to magically transport them into an actual experience of the interconnectedness of life.”

And transport us he does. The viewer is offered a new perspective of what we typically take for granted – Toi Toi transform into shimmering manes of golden thread; wet sand into a vast sheet of glass mirroring the cloudscape above; bird feathers into intricate tiers of patterned silk. This is not nature as we have come to expect it – rather, a fresh take allowing us to view the world once again through innocent eyes.

A Stage 3 student, Paul is thriving on the challenge of new perspectives and possibilities. “I mainly work with Peter (Adsett) – we do one on one Skype calls each week and it’s just worked out awesomely. I’ve learned so much – ‘thanks Peter’. During this last term I would like to move more into the intuitive, spontaneous and magical; to dance with nature and see what our dance together manifests photographically. And to allow the knowledge base I am being shown to become an intuitive aspect of my photography.”

Not surprisingly, commercial opportunities have already presented themselves. A long-time devotee of wild-life, Paul has given freely of his photography services to the Karori Sanctuary (www.sanctuary.org.nz). His work features on their website as well as on promotional posters, CDs, information boards, media releases, newspapers and pamphlets, some of which are being used by the Interislander, Tranz Scenic and the Department of Conservation – no mean feat given the latter’s already bulging database of photo archives.

Where to from here? Once he completes Stage 3 in July, Paul intends focusing a little more on the business side of art, setting up a small company and perhaps publishing one or two collections of his photographs showcasing New Zealand’s unique natural environment. Other than that, it’ll be business as usual – reading, tramping, diving, kayaking, travelling, dreaming, gardening, taking photos, “messing around on Photoshop”, listening to music, relishing silence when it happens and, last, but not least, drinking home-brew beer and hanging out with his “wild friends”. Sounds like a pretty good life.

If you’re interested in seeing more of Paul’s photography, it will feature in a slide show at TLC’s end of term exhibition (opening night) in mid-June. You can also visit his blog-site at
http://paullittlephotography.freeservers.com/index.html.

Susan Knaap is part of an exhibition called ‘Going Solo’ at NZ Academy of Fine Arts on Wellington’s Waterfront. We interviewed her and profiled the show.

How did you find the space for your exhibition ‘Going Solo’ and what appealed to you about the space?

I’ve belonged to the NZ Academy of Fine Arts for several years and this Going Solo is something they organise -- two a year. Any one artist is able to participate every two years -- this is my third one. The space is beautiful -- light and airy with plenty of space to view the art.

Who are some of the other artists exhibiting?

Lisa Chandler who did Stage 3 with me.. I can’t remember the others -- check out www.nzafa.com -- it has a list of people involved.

Can you describe your body of work for this show in a sentence? It looks at the contrast between form and formlessness -- the ’something’ and the ‘nothing’. I’ve continued to use cloud formations as the ‘form’ aspect and portrayed space as a solid mass of colour. I’m particularly interested in the boundaries between form and formlessness and this will continue to be a focus in my art in the future.

What were there any surprises in putting this show together?

It was a fairly arduous time actually -- I hadn’t painted in a year and thought I could simply start where I left off, but that wasn’t the case. Long story short -- I left way too little time to do the set and complicated things by working in oils which, with the cold weather, meant many days waiting for paint to dry.

What was your biggest struggle?

Trying to find and locate my style. I thought I would simply start painting where I left it a year earlier, but it didn’t work that way. In the meantime obviously there was an inner journey which continued to happen and in a way my painting had to catch up with that. So many weeks were spent simply figuring out what I was doing and by the time I was ready to actually start working on a consistent body of work, it was time to exhibit! As such, the resulting collection is somewhat eclectic. On the plus side it reflects a very genuine journey.

Was there any public feedback?

Lots of positive feedback; interesting how people related to different paintings -- each one portraying a different part of my journey. I probably got the most compliments on the very last painting I did, which in some ways confirms my journey got my art to a good place.

Which artists do you love?

Monet, Rothko (and several of the other Abstract Expressionists of the 1960’s).

Has the work lead you in a new direction, or sparked any new ideas?

Definitely. Right before the exhibition, I discovered new materials -- Golden Open Acrylics -- and found they allowed for much more spontaneity in my work. I’d like to really explore those further and perhaps allow for a more experimental style to open up.

Watch other clips from our Youtube Channel

Distance delivery tutor Anne-Marie Jean answered a few of our questions about her own creative process:

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I moved to Christchurch from Australia in 2000. I fell in love with the landscape and the people down there. We moved to Wellington a few years ago so I could work at TLC. Teaching and mentoring has been fantastic. It brings wonderful energy into my life and art practice and it is great to share my passion for art and creativity with others.

What do you do at TLC?
I mostly work as an EM mentor, but also run onsite classes in things like oil painting, installation and performance art, and abstract women painters.

What kind of art do you make?
Mostly I make big abstract landscapes in oils. Working at TLC has inspired me to branch out a little into other areas too. I’m especially interested in the art/craft boundaries at the moment.

What is your favourite medium?
Absolutely, positively, oil paint.

How does your creative process work?
I work a lot on intuition. I had a student in last week’s block class say the canvas was her muse and I really related to that. I have a couch in my studio and I just love to paint then run back and sit on the couch and wait for the painting to tell me what comes next. I go tramping a lot which really inspires me and my work.

Who is your most inspiring person of the year and why?
I think fellow tutor Marci Tackett is really inspiring. She has so much energy for exploration and experimentation and I just love her mark making. She just bought a new printing press and is so following her dreams. I’m inspired!

Who is your favourite artist and why?
Oh it is such a toss up between Cy Twombly and Joan Mitchell. They both have a love affair with paint and mark making and seem to be emotionally intelligent and expressive. I also discovered installation artist Jessica Stockholder last year and adore the materials she uses and the huge space she engages with.

What is the coolest thing you ever learnt?

Either that bad painting leads to good painting or admitting I can’t do something generally leads to me being able to do it.

What did you want to be when you grow up?
I remember a conversation with my best friend where we decided I would be an artist and she would be a journalist and write a book about my great aunts who I thought were so amazing (I still think that). She is a lawyer now, but it is never to late to start writing!

You can check out her work at: http://annemariejean.googlepages.com/

Massey University School of Fine Arts invites you to a lecture by Max Gimblett, West Meets East in Art: an East West contrast / Pacific and Asian culture.

Thursday 21st of May, 5.30pm
10A02
Old Museum Building
School of Fine Arts
Buckle Street
Wellington

We are delighted to announce that both Auckland and Hamilton workshops have been sold out!

The Art of Change

The art of change is the secret to a creative life. At this workshop we’ll introduce you to the basics of how to make it work for yourself.

Part of the secret is expressed in the title of Mike Robbins’ book Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken. It’s strange, isn’t it, that as we get older there is increasing pressure on us to be less and less authentic. We become our roles – a teacher, a chef, a parent, a student. Even ‘on the dole’ can be a response to ‘What are you doing?’

It’s like being caught in one of those terrible sales frenzies where people stampede to buy stuff they don’t need or want. We can find ourselves caught up in a life we didn’t choose.

One of the spectacular things about art is that it can strip away the nonsense. Sometimes, with breathtaking speed, you can discover what matters. That discovery isn’t the end, it’s the beginning.

The Learning Connexion essentially does two things. The first is to help you fast-track the discovery of what is important to living life creatively. The second is to support the long-term changes which turn the discovery into reality. We do this through art.

This workshop is for you – to open the way for creative change through some easy art processes. You’ll take away art work which can give you a sense of creative direction. This is a day which could change your whole life.

Lead tutors:
- Jonathan Milne, founder of The Learning Connexion and author of GO! The Art of Change
- Alice Wilson Milne, director, writer, facilitator

Sessions
Sessions cost $50* for the day
Day starts at 9.30am, ends 4.30pm
Tea/coffee provided – BYO lunch

Call 0800ARTPOWER or email a.koveskali@tlc.ac.nz to book your place.
*subsidies available for CSC card holder
Limited spaces available.

South Island
Sat June 6 Dunedin Otago Pioneer Womens Hall, 362 Moray Pl. View map
Tues June 9 Christchurch IAM centre, 267a Cambridge Tce View map
Thurs June 11 Greymouth Trinity Centre, Tainui St View map
Sat June 13 Nelson Age Concern Hall, 67 Trafalgar St View map

North Island
Sat 20 June New Plymouth Baptist Hall 1 Lemon St View map
SOLD OUT Mon 22 June Hamilton Artmakers Cnr Ward St & Seddon Rd View map
SOLD OUT Thurs 25 June Auckland Devonport Community House 32 Clarence St View map
Sat 27 June Tauranga Tauranga Art Gallery Cnr Willow & Wharf Sts View map

Video student Rosie Soluouta, recently had her short film, Dark Night, screened at the Deaf Film Festival, during New Zealand Sign Language week. Dark Night is about two girls who discover their mother is a vampire.

You can watch the film now on The Learning Connexion’s Youtube channel: